Hotels Book More Rooms In 1st Quarter

Despite a big increase in the number of available rooms, Central Florida's hotels confounded the experts during the first quarter of 1986 by posting occupancy rates much higher than expected.

''We have been amazed that business has been as strong as it has,'' said Clyde Rodgers, a partner at Pannell Kerr Forster, an accounting and consulting firm.

Orlando-area hotels were 63.5 percent full in January, compared with 51.8 percent in January 1985, Rodgers said, and 85 percent full in February, compared with 75.6 for the same month in 1985. A hotel, unless it has very high costs, is profitable above a 65 percent occupancy level.

March was the most surprising month, though: Occupancy levels averaged 93.2 percent, compared with 87.6 percent for the same month a year earlier. One reason for the favorable comparison is that Easter -- one of the area's busiest times of the year -- fell in March this year instead of April like last year. The peak winter tourist season usually ends shortly after Easter.

As a result, occupancy levels in April were basically flat, falling a bit to 83.9 percent from 84.1 percent in April 1985.

Rodgers said that late last year his company had predicted that occupancy rates in metropolitan Orlando would fall in early 1986 as much as four or five percentage points below those posted in 1985 -- just the opposite of what has occurred.

Rodgers said that many factors contributed to the unexpectedly strong showing, among them lower gasoline prices and cheap air fares; Walt Disney World's $17 million advertising campaign; and the boost to U.S. tourism from fears of terrorism abroad.

World's $17 million advertising campaign; and the boost to U.S. tourism from fears of terrorism abroad.

Low room rates, too, have helped fill hotel rooms in the area, Rodgers said, though he added that his company has not finished studying room rates for March and April.

Laventhol and Horwath, another accounting and consulting firm that surveys the region's hotel rooms, said that room rates averaged $54.51 a night in February, up less than 4 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Rodgers said an increase in group business might have boosted occupancy levels while keeping room rates low. Hotels usually are willing to sell blocks of rooms to tour groups or conventions for prices lower than those offered to individuals.

''I think maybe some good deals were given out before hotels realized how good things were going to be,'' Rodgers said. ''There were a lot of package deals put together that were very attractive.''

Metropolitan Orlando had 56,714 hotel rooms as of April 21, about 4,000 more rooms than last year at the same time, according to the state Division of Hotels and Restaurants. The county-by-county breakdown is: Orange County, 36,523 rooms; Osceola, 17,327; and Seminole, 2,864.

For the Daytona Beach area, the most recent occupancy figures show that hotels in February were 80.3 percent full, compared with 79.1 percent in 1985, Laventhol & Horwath said. There are 18,700 rooms in Volusia County.